Improvement in marking plug - tobacco



G. B. OKELL. MARKING PLUG-Tomaso.

No. 195,688. j Patented sept.z5,1s77.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE B. OKELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MARKING PLUG TOBACCO.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 195,688, dated September 25, 1877; application filed June 4, 1877.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. OKELL, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Marking Plug-Tobacco, which is fully described in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a top or plan view of a pound plug of tobacco, marked or spaced off into sixteen equal parts of exactly one ounce each; Fig. 2, a sectional view at the line mv, Fig. l; and Fig. 3, a longitudinal sectional view taken at the line y y, Fig. 1.

The object of my' invention is to mark tobacco that is made in plugs so that the retail dealer can cut the plugs into smaller plugs or pieces of equal and definite sizes, and at the same time the wrapper will be secured to the filling by means of the indentations.

My invention consists in marking or spacing oii the surface of a plug of tobacco by indented lines in ounce pieces, or pieces of uni form and delinite size, so that the retailer will have a guide to go by in cutting up the plug into pieces of definite and uniform sizes when he retails the tobacco, and the wrapper will be prevented from starting away from the filling.

It is very customary to make, in the manufacture of tobacco, plugs that weigh one pound. Plug-tobacco is mostly retailed in plugs of one or two ounces in weight. lt costs more to put up small plugs of those sizes. Consequently it is a saving to make the larger plugs and let the retail dealer cut them up as he sells them. He experiences great inconvenience in cutting them into pieces of just the desired quantity. Consequently it is desirable that the dealer may be able to cut from a large plug exactly an ounce plug, or a definite quantity, making the unit of sale or a multiple of such units.

A is a plug of tobacco, supposed to contain a pound. B are marks made on the surface, dividing it into eight equal plugs,A each one of which is supposed to contain two ounces; and C is a mark dividing each of the two-ounce plugs into two equal parts.

The retail-dealer uses these marks as a guide in cutting up the plug as he sells it to the consumer in ounce or two-ounce plugs. Should any other unit of sale be adopted the size of the pieces marked oli' may be varied; but the marks are placed as guides to cut by in cuttlng up the large plug.

I intend to make these marks by pressing a wire into the surface of the plug when the plug is made; but I do not limit myself to any particular Way of making the plug, as there are various ways in which I may make the plug in such manner that the marks will serve as guides in cutting up the plug, as above described.

The indentations in the lump serve another useful purpose. In the ordinary lump the wrapper frequently starts from the filling, especially in damp, wet weather. This is an injury to the plug, and it is the object ofmanutacturers of this kind of tobacco to prevent it as much as possible.

In a lump made as described above, the indentations assist in holdingthe wrapper to the filling, and as they are extended all over the face of the lump, and may be increased in number at pleasure. there is little danger of separation between the Wrapper and filling.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

As a new article of manufacture, a plug of tobacco one or both faces of which are marked oi' by indented lines, which serve to secure the wrapper to the iilling, and also as guides for cutting up the plug into small pieces of definite size and weight, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

GEORGE B. OKELL.

Witnesses:

L. A. BUNTING, W. C. GoRLIEs. 

